Is there a funnier sitcom from the 80’s about a quartet or old and older women living together in Miami? Is there a funnier sitcom full stop? It’s a difficult one. After just two seasons of The Golden Girls, I’m prepared to put it in my top 5 favourite TV shows. This latest 25 episodes have been comedy gold, with tales of lesbians, cheating husbands, shipwrecks, holidays, prostitution and illegal immigrants, where ‘issues’ are handled sensitively and not rammed down your throat, despite the occasional ‘issue of the week’ tone of some episodes.
The Golden Girls is a classic of the old style, with a set confined to a few rooms, out door scenes are a rarity, and with a reassuring theme tune that I cannot help but sing along to every time. All together now: ‘Thank you for being a friend…’
What makes the show a success is the writing and the perfect cast. It really saddens me watching the show some 25 years after it was broadcast that Betty White is the only surviving cast member. It also amuses me that these ladies are supposed to be old, despite Blanche only being in her 50’s in the second season! My Mum’s in her 50’s and she’s not retired to Miami with her old friends! That’s not fair though, as Blanche, Rose and Dorothy all still work, and it’s only 81 year old Sophia who is naturally retired. I suppose in the 80’s, being old meant something different to what it does now perhaps, but I suppose what all the women have in common is that they’re single, all widowed apart from Dorothy, whose useless ex-husband Stan is a welcome recurring guest star.
There’s something comforting about The Golden Girls, and how every episode is bound to have essential ingredients, no matter what the plot concerns. After that sweet theme song, at some point in the next 25 minutes you will see the following:
• Dorothy (Beatrice Arthur) will roll her eyes and look perturbed.
• Rose (Betty White) will tell a tale of her simple life back in St. Olaf, usually using a made-up Scandinavian expression.
• Blanche (Rue McClanahan) will make reference to how much she loves men and/or sex.
• Sophia (Estelle Getty) will say something wildly inappropriate and insult Dorothy or Rose.
• The girls will be up in the middle of the night, and choose to eat cheesecake or ice cream.
• If the girls fall out, they’ll have made up again by the end of the episode.
Formulaic? You bet. Hilarious? Certainly. The Golden Girls is a sitcom I expect to revisit again and again in the coming years. Hopefully at some point they’ll release Seasons 5-7 on Region 2 DVD too, along with the ‘sequel’ The Golden Palace. I can dream. ‘Thank you for being a friend…’
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